Illustrating children's books

Raymond Briggs has created many
graphic novels and here he describes the process.

Book writers have such an easy time of
it. They sit down, write their book and when they come to the end they send it
off to the publisher. It might be long, it might be short, the publisher
doesn’t mind.

The
writer needs no materials or equipment. He can do it all with a pencil and a
Woolworth’s pad. Even the typing may be done for him. Unlike the illustrator,
he needs no paints, crayons, T-squares, set squares, brushes, dividers, spray
cans, handmade paper and mounting boards, light boxes, cutting tables,
guillotines, type scales, magnifier lamps, wall-to-wall display boards and
masses of space. The writer can scribble it all in bed. (They often do.)

Drawing the book

For the picture book illustrator, when he
has finished the writing, that is the easy bit done. His true task then begins.

First he
has to design the book. Picture books have to be exactly 32 pages, not 33 or
31. This includes prelims. So the text has to be divided into fewer than 16
spreads. On rare occasions, the publisher may allow 40 pages, or on even rarer
occasions 48, though this allowance may contain ‘self-ends’ which take up eight
pages. (This is too technical to explain to book writers.)

Then, the
illustrator becomes a typographer. He casts off the MSS, chooses a suitable
font, decides on the type size, the measure and the leading, and has it set.
Surprisingly, some writers I have met know nothing about typography. Some don’t
even know the name of the font their own book is set in! Some have never even
set foot in a printer’s.

If the
book is strip cartoon with speech bubbles, the task is even greater as each
speech bubble has to be individually designed. The size and shape of it is part
of its expressive quality and once the bubble is finalised the illustrator
becomes a hand-lettering expert and letters in, possibly many hundreds of
words, trying to maintain a consistent style over many days’ work. In America
strip cartoon work is divided amongst several people: writer, pencilling-in
artist, inker-in, and letterer. In England we are made of sterner stuff –
‘blood, toil, tears and sweat’ and we ‘graphic novelists’ do it all.

The
illustrator then makes a dummy (a blank book) with the correct number of pages
and of the exact size. If he is well established and commands respect from the
publisher, the publisher may have a dummy made for him – but you need to be at
least 60 years old to be granted this privilege. (You might have to show them your
Bus Pass.) He then cuts up the type proofs (which used to be called ‘galleys’)
and sticks them onto the dummy, imagining the pictures on the page as he does
so. Again, for strip cartoons it is much more complicated – you have to
consider not just what text goes on each spread but how many frames the text is
to be divided amongst, and what size and shape the frames are to be.

This
brings us to the next stage: designing the ‘grid’, i.e. how many rows of frames
per page and the number of frames in each row there are to be. Places where
small frames give way to a big picture, either vignetted or bled off, will be
determined by the text itself, not only in terms of space but also by the
feeling the text is trying to express.

Creating the action

When all this is done, it is time to stop
book designing and start making the ‘film’. You become the director. Who comes
on from the left and who from the right? A slight nuisance is that the
character on the left is the one who has to speak first. What are the
characters doing and thinking and feeling? We have their words, but is there a
subtext? Can this be expressed by body language? Is one of them angrily
scrubbing the floor, whilst the other gazes moodily out of the window?

You then
become the art director, designing the sets. Where does the scene take place? Indoors
or outdoors? In the garden or in the street? What does a 1930s kitchen look
like? How big is the room? What is the view from the window?

You also
have to be the costume designer and the lighting designer. What would they be
wearing at the time? Is it winter or summer? What were overcoats and hats like
then? What did they wear on the beach? Should it be daylight or artificial
light in this scene? What exactly was the look of gaslight? Does it need a dark
ominous light or a happy morning light?

Then as
the cameraman you have to decide where to shoot from. Close-up, long shot, or
middle distance? Both characters in shot or one off-screen? Perhaps a speech
bubble stays in the frame but the speaker is unseen, through a doorway or
simply out of shot. Shall it be a high view looking down on the scene or a low
angle looking up? It all depends on what the action is trying to convey.

Finally,
you have to become the actor and feel yourself inside the character when you’re
drawing it. This is the essence of good narrative illustration. It is an odd
bit of psychology. You have to be mentally in two places at once. One part of
you is inside character, feeling what it is like to be huddled and running in
the pouring rain, the other part of your brain is detachedly looking at this
figure from a certain point of view, taking note of perspective. ‘Ah yes, the
lower leg will be foreshortened from this angle; we’re looking down on the
thigh and on the back; we can’t see his face as his head is down and his arm is
up. Will we see the sole of the shoe that is raised or is it edge on?’

The lucky
writer need know nothing about human and animal anatomy, perspective, drawing,
line tone or colour. All they have to do is write down some words! It’s a
doddle.

Raymond Briggsis creator of TheSnowman,
Fungus the Bogeyman, Father
Christmas and many other characters and stories for children, and When the Wind Blows and Ethel and Ernest
for adults. Since leaving art school in 1957 he has been a writer and
illustrator, mainly of children’s books. He has written plays for the stage and
radio and a few ‘adult’ books. In 2004 he designed the Christmas stamps for the
Royal Mail, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, but his
proudest achievement is going on the radio programme Desert
Island Discs, twice. His fansite is www.toonhound.com/briggs.htm.